odonna
Pony Clubber
PASSED PMBL 'C' TEST
Posts: 114
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Post by odonna on Dec 10, 2012 18:57:02 GMT 1
Rallycairn I to hovered over voting very good or good and did the same as you. I originally voted very good, then changed to good. Now, thinking of some of those other rubbish books, I am tempted to change it to very good again!
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Post by Claire on Dec 11, 2012 3:35:29 GMT 1
I know what you two mean about finding it hard to rate books. Its not easy to find a yardstick when the books we are looking at can be almost 90 years apart! And also aimed at kids from about 7 or 8 to adult! Like everything pony books have gone thru fashions and I think a lot of us on here of a certain age who were brought up on the classic pony books of the PTs etc will consider them an ideal. But things have moved on and books like that will just not be written anymore. Pony books for younger teens just don't seem to have the depth or character development now and need to rush along at a furious pace (which I think is mainly an editorial thing similar to the Americanisation we were talking about earlier). There are plenty of older teen books which are gritty and meaty tho.
For me however, one of the most important things in books aimed at this younger age group is the messages they give the young readers and I rate highly those that give good messages such as caring about ponies, looking out for friends, learning true values of life, etc. I think authors of books for this age group have some sort of responsibility in this area. Its why I dislike a certain book in which a girl sells her supposedly beloved pony just so she can have enough money to go to a swanky riding school, and others of this ilk. The books I consider the best for the younger teen age group all give positive messages and that includes this book.
In fact I would put this series as one of the best modern series for this particular age group, along with Maggie Dana's Timber Ridge series, The Pony Whisperer series by Janet Rising and Belinda Rapley's Pony Detective series.
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Post by Claire on Jan 4, 2013 16:06:33 GMT 1
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Post by garej on Jan 11, 2013 20:07:31 GMT 1
Thanks for that Claire. I ordered (and received) two books from Jane.
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Post by Claire on Feb 14, 2013 22:14:56 GMT 1
Just a quick reminder to all who enjoyed the Matty books Jane has a new novella Beware of the Horse out as an e-book and its FREE until the end of today. Its actually set at an older readership and is a much darker more serious story than the Matty series so if you find them a little young you might enjoy this one: www.amazon.co.uk/Beware-of-the-Horse-ebook/dp/B00BEJTDUE/
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